About 100 hundred years ago pressurised steam was sometimes used for driving centrifugal rotors. A steam turbine was coupled to the driving shaft of a centrifugal rotor in one way or another, usually through a gear device. Since then rotors of high speed separators usually have been driven by means of electrical motors.
Lately, driving of a centrifugal rotor by means of a gas turbine has sometimes been suggested. A gas turbine operated centrifugal rotor is suggested for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,618. However, no efficient and compact arrangement for gas turbine operation of a centrifugal rotor has been seen.
The present invention has for its object to provide an efficient and compact driving means for the rotor of a centrifugal separator by means of a gaseous driving fluid.